Effects of different thawing methods on physical and physicochemical properties of frozen dough and quality of corresponding steamed bread.

The thawing method is critical for the final quality of products based on the frozen dough. The effects of ultrasound thawing, proofer thawing, refrigerator thawing, water bath thawing, ambient thawing, and microwave thawing on the rheology, texture, water distribution, fermentation characteristics, and microstructure of frozen dough and the properties of steamed bread were investigated. The results indicated that the ultrasound thawing dough had better physicochemical properties than other doughs. It was found that ultrasound thawing restrained the water migration of dough, improved its rheological properties and fermentation capacity. The total gas volume value of the ultrasound thawing dough was reduced by 21.35% compared with that of unfrozen dough. The ultrasound thawing dough displayed a thoroughly uniform starch-gluten network, and an enhanced the specific volume and internal structure of the steamed bread. In conclusion, ultrasound thawing effectively mitigated the degradation of the frozen dough and enhanced the quality of steamed bread.

Can samphire be the new salt? Understanding the potential of samphire harvested from the UK coastline.

Salicornia species have been explored as a substitute for salt, however the intensity of salty taste elicited remains unexplained by the sodium content alone. To investigate this, a study was conducted to determine the nutrient profile of samphire extract and relate this to its sensory quality in a nachos base. Freeze dried samphire extracts contain minerals, including Na (12-14 g/100 g), K (1-1.5 g/100 g) and Mg (0.3-0.5 g/100 g) and free amino acids such as lysine (28-41 mg/100 g), glutamic acid (20-31 mg/100 g), aspartic acid (20-56 mg/100 g) and arginine (54-109 mg/100 g), which are known to influence salty taste. The sensory panel found that 2.5 % addition of samphire extract produced a significantly saltier taste than the control product (0.7 % NaCl) at an equivalent sodium level. These findings suggest that the minerals and amino acids in samphire extract may collectively contribute to its salty taste, making it a viable option for reducing sodium in food products.

Effects of pork fat and linseed oil as additives on gel quality of fish cake.

Pork fat (PF) is a necessary ingredient in making traditional fish cakes (TFCs), which contains saturated fatty acids with potential health concerns. While linseed oil (LO) containing α-linolenic acid is a potential nutrient-enhancing fat substitute. In this study, the effect of pork fat and linseed oil level on gel quality, sensory characteristics, microstructure, and protein conformation of TFCs were characterized. Results showed that the TFCs with 30% pork fat (wt/wt) had the highest gel strength. Additionally, sensory evaluation determined that TFCs with 30% pork fat scored the best by a sensory panel with high gel strength, water-holding capacity, and fresh and sweet taste. The gel strength, chewiness, and hardness of nutrient-enriched fish cakes with 20% linseed oil replaced for pork fat were higher than that only with pork fat (wt/wt) without changing in tenderness and elasticity. Visual results showed that the network was uniform at a moderate level of linseed oil addition (20% LO/PF replacement ratio). The results of this study provided technical guidelines for standardizing the TFC manufacture processes, and useful insight for the development of fish cakes with reduced animal fat content for additional health benefits for consumers.

Sensory evaluation of fresh/frozen mackerel products: A review.

Mackerel has received considerable attention in the global food market as one of the most important pelagic commercial fish species. The quality of mackerel is influenced by species, season, fishing area, nutritional status, catching method, handling, and storage. Due to the mackerel's perishability, its quality is mainly measured by sensory procedures. Although considerable effort has been made to explore quick and reliable quality analysis, developing a practical and scientific sensory evaluation of mackerel has been an active ongoing study area to meet the quality evaluation demand of the industry. Different sensory evaluation methods have been used to assess the mackerel fish quality, including Palatability and Spoilage test, Torry scheme, EU scheme, Quality Index Method, Catch damage index and Processed fish damage index, Affective test, Discriminative test, and Descriptive test. Each method has its strength and weakness. Despite mackerel sensory evaluation protocols having undergone partial harmonization, specific sample process needs to be carefully followed to minimize the change during sample preparation. This review summarizes the sensory evaluation methods in mackerel research, the factors affecting sensory evaluation, and then updates the latest advances in mackerel sensory evaluation and offers guidance for presenting its application in the mackerel chain. Also, each technique's advantages and limitations are discussed. In our opinion, the future trends for sensory evaluation of mackerel should be consumer-centric.

Estimating freshness of ice storage rainbow trout using bioelectrical impedance analysis.

This study aimed to evaluate the freshness of ice stored rainbow trout by bioelectrical impedance measurements. Rigor mortis, ATP-related components, K-value, and hardness of rainbow trout muscle during storage were monitored along with impedance. The results showed that the progress of rigor mortis was accompanied by an increase in impedance. Impedance kept decreasing even in rigor state, and during the gradual resolution of rigor mortis with impedance change upon storage of fish was biphasic (r = -0.944, p < .01). Thus, when impedance decreased close to the lowest value, K-value was only about 61.57 ± 0.52%, but still exhibited a high pertinence (r = -0.959, p < .01). A gradual decrease of the hardness of fish muscle upon storage of fish showed a close correlation (r = 0.981, p < .01) with impedance decrease. These results suggested that the impedance measurement has a great potential for predicting the freshness of the rainbow trout during ice storage.

Factors affecting the water holding capacity of red meat products: a review of recent research advances.

The water holding capacity of meat products is a very important quality attribute which has an influence on product yield, which in turn has economic implications, but is also important in terms of eating quality. A number of pre-and post-mortem factors influence the water holding capacity (WHC) of meat. During the growth and development of meat animals, genotype and animal diet are important due to their direct influence on muscle characteristics. In the immediate pre-slaughter period, stresses on the animal such as fasting, and different stunning methods are likely to influence meat WHC. In the post-slaughter period chilling, ageing, injecting non-meat ingredients, as well as tumbling have important influences on WHC. Furthermore, cooking and cooling procedures for the final meat products can also affect the WHC of the product, in particular the cooking and the cooling methods, the heating and the cooling rate, the cooking temperature, and the endpoint temperature. This paper provides an overview of recent research on important intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect the WHC of beef, pork, and lamb products, and reveals explanations and solutions to some of the critical problems related to WHC and product quality.

Effect of cooking bag and netting packaging on the quality of pork ham during water cooking.

As a preliminary test for combining water cooking with vacuum cooling in soup of pork ham, three package treatments were designed to study the effect of cooking bag and netting on the quality of water cooked ham, i.e. ham cooked with a cooking bag and without a cooking bag (single netting and double netting). For treatments without a cooking bag, the results indicated that there was no significant superiority of ham cooked with double netting compared with ham cooked with single netting on the processing efficiency and quality characteristics. Although the hams cooked with a bag performed better in some chemical retentions and pigment, the water contents were significantly lower than those hams cooked in single netting (P<0.05), and there was a higher shrinkage tendency compared with the hams cooked without a bag. For the processing characteristics and texture properties of pork ham, there were no significant differences observed among the treatments with and without a cooking bag in terms of the combined effect of cooking and cooling (P>0.05). By considering the safety, convenience, cost, and the recovery effect on the quality changes of ham during vacuum cooling in soup, cooking with single netting is a better choice for future research.

Application of PLSR in correlating physical and chemical properties of pork ham with different cooling methods.

Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was applied to understand the relationship between physical and chemical properties of pork leg ham with different cooling treatments, i.e., cold room, air blast and vacuum cooling. The results indicated that overall 69.8% variation of physical matrix was explained by chemical matrix. For the univariate analysis of physical attributes, the results showed that gumminess (88.1%) and hardness (86.5%) were best explained by chemical matrix, followed by springiness (78.7%), Warner-Bratzler Shear force (61.3%), and a* (60.0%). Graphical display of the regression coefficients indicated that different cooling treatments had different effects on the physical property of pork ham. Therefore, to predict the physical quality with chemical attributes, separate regression formulations should be adopted for different cooling methods. These findings have practical importance in attempts to predict physical properties from chemical components. In addition, they can also be used to control the physical properties by adjusting the components in the meat system.